Rich Enuff burst clear in the home straight and won stylishly.
"It's breathtaking the speed this horse has when you ask him to sprint," said winning rider Michael Rodd. "He finds four or five lengths very quickly and it's scary what he might achieve."
You just had to love the close second Sangster produced in Friday night's A$200,000 JRA Cup at Moonee Valley.
The pacemaking winner The Cleaner is becoming a cult hero in Melbourne with a 212111 formline and there is no doubt he's a class act, but there is similarly no question Sangster should have beaten him.
Sangster was twice fractionally checked when attempting to make ground approaching the home bend and the bleeding of momentum was critical.
It took him an age to wind up again and in another couple of strides would have won.
He will be winning again soon, particularly when he gets to a roomy track like Flemington.
Baggy Hillis would have loved it.
New Zealand's toughest jumps jockey, whose death this year was commemorated by yesterday's steeplechase at Te Rapa, would have enjoyed the mayhem created in the race that carried his name.
Six of the 14 horses who started finished the race, the chaos throughout the event caused almost everyone to say, "never seen anything like that", including racecaller George Simon.
Straight Farrow ran off early, Supercharged, And Thatz Scotty and Just Gorgeous were pulled up, Hold That Dream and Hemingway lost their riders and I'm Your Man and Noah Jon fell.
Either a medal or a serious question mark is deserved to Sunset Pass' rider Daniel Miller who was in trouble with a round still to cover. Miller was over the side of the horse with no steering gear and Sunset Pass charged forward at almost bolting speed on the open ground at the northern end of the track.
When Miller finally got his mount under control, instead of pulling him up he went after the other five in case stakemoney was in question if further fallers occurred. They didn't.
The jumps racing season wrapped up, with promising steeplechaser Carinya providing notice that she will be a force to be reckoned with in next year's feature jumping events.
Prepared by Dan O'Leary at his Marton base, Carinya made it three wins from just four starts over the bigger fences when she won the Lammermoor Farm Waikato Hunt Gold Cup (4900m) in effortless fashion from the Paul Nelson-trained pair of Yorkie and Bally Heights.
Settled at the rear of the seven-horse field by rider Charlie Studd, the 5-year-old mare travelled comfortably and looked to be full of running as she moved into contention with three fences to jump.
Quickly collaring the leaders in the straight, Studd let the mare stride away to the line after clearing the last obstacle for an ever increasing seven-length victory.
"We brought her up here for a look at the Te Rapa track as I'm keen on tackling the Waikato Steeplechase with her next year," said O'Leary.
"I wasn't really sure how she would go on the better track conditions but she just bounced off it and in the end was really impressive.
"In terms of the jumping game she's really just a baby, so it's an exciting time and I can't wait until next season."
The mare will now head for a well deserved spell before being brought back into work around Christmas to prepare for the 2015 jumping season.
O'Leary also said Auckland Cup winner Who Shot Thebarman, who he owns with his brothers Michael and Shaun, would have his next start this weekend as he prepares for his tilt at the Melbourne Cup.
The Chris Waller-trained stayer would run in either the Turnbull Stakes (2000m) or The Bart Cummings (2500m) at Flemington as he looks to secure a place in the Melbourne Cup on November 4.
No luck for NZ star
*Vespa severely hampered
*Sangster has hoof on till
*Carinya wins Waikato Hunt Cup
- Additional reporting NZ Racing Desk
